Title: Photoshop CS — Down And Dirty Tricks Author: Scott Kelby Publisher: New Riders Publishing ISB 0-7357-1353-7 Media: Book Level: Beginner-Advanced Price: $39.99

In Photoshop CS Down And Dirty Tricks, Adobe Photoshop guru Scott Kelby, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Photoshop User magazine, shares dozens of his techniques for creating popular visual effects. Additionally, there are hundreds of "quick tips" that will help any user become faster and more productive when using the number one image-editing program. All of the tricks in the book will help any Photoshop user, beginner, and intermediate or advanced, become a better killer image manipulator. Each trick contains multiple, easy-to-follow steps towards its completion, accompanied by screenshots. The images Kelby uses for example are available online as free downloads. All of the effects, which may take hours to figure out on your own and even longer to create with some level of success, can be easily completed in a manner of minutes. Unfortunately, many of the tricks contained within the book fall under the category of horribly tacky and slightly outdated. For example, do we need any more faux-Jaguar capital X�s or websites made to look like high-tech, Star Trek-era interfaces? — Probably not. However, if these effects are used as a jumping-off point to make unique, tasteful and hopefully slightly more subtle visuals, then no one could deny the power this book easily bestows upon its willing reader.